To Our Readers: Happy Holidays (I Mean It)

Editor's Note: This is the first Christmas and Holiday Season for AskMen.com and as a tribute to our readers, we voted for one of our staff to write the message for 1999. In a unanimous vote, Mr. Mafioso was selected as the messenger. From all of us at AskMen.com, we wish all our readers all the best during this historic Holiday Season of 1999. We thank you for your loyalty and for making us a part of your life (this is as mushy as we get). The readers of AskMen.com are truly the best there out there.

So, I've been chosen as the one to write a Holiday message for our readers. Normally, not only do I hate being told what to do, I also hate writing anything sentimental or touching. But today, I will take off my mobster hat, and talk to you man to man.

You don't have to believe in Christmas to realize that it is a special time of the year. No matter how old we get and how jaded we become with the world, we become nicer during this time of year. I haven't smacked anyone on the head all week. Ok, I haven't done that since I was 4 years old, so that tells you that I am a Christmas kind of guy. I love everything about Christmas, the stupid tree, the stupid snow, the stupider gifts, but most of all the Christmas dinner; the only time of the year where grudges are forgotten as a family celebrates together.

I like Santa Claus

Everyone has a sentimental reason for enjoying this time of year, and here is mine. I don't really care about Santa Claus, he's a fat guy in a red suit, but I do care about what he represents. Santa is the clown who is going to give the kids in the world gifts for being good. Even though promoting "the Santa Claus myth" to our kids postpones the inevitable realization that he doesn't exist, so what? What is so wrong in letting kids have an ideal to look up to?

We go through life pursuing things like money, women, greed, and fame, but how does this fulfill us as a person? Without family and friends, we are nothing. Don't kid yourselves; it is the people around us who complete our lives. Santa Claus is that same shining example to me, of the goodness we are still capable of doing. In the end, even wise guys have a heart. Don't believe me? Watch The Sopranos.

Take the time this year to be nice to at least everyone you care about. Enjoy your familia , and tell them they are important to you. Be nice to everyone for now - at least until the 26th - then your enemies become your enemies again. The holidays are a time to think back and suck in the spirit of giving, blah, blah, blah. Like I said, I hate being sentimental and you get my point. By the way, don't be stingy with the gifts. Remember, when you die, you can't take it with you. Also, remember what I said about paying things with cash, you don't need to load up your credit cards.

thank you to our readers

So, without discussing my Santa philosophies with you any further, I would like to sincerely thank all the readers of AskMen.com for their support, their loyalty, and for letting us play a role in the way you live your lives. We appreciate all the e-mails we get, the disagreements certain readers had (how boring life would be without some controversy or discussion), and the way our readers visit us on a daily basis. Like the editor wrote at the top of this letter, AskMen.com readers are the best readers of any magazine in the world, and I agree. Again, thank you and Happy Holidays - enjoy the niceties, you won't see me being this nice for a while.